


The Going Rate for Absolution

by speccygeekgrrl



Category: Trigun
Genre: Confessions, Gen, Portable Confessional
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:13:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24513658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speccygeekgrrl/pseuds/speccygeekgrrl
Summary: "So... what's the going rate for absolution?" Vash asks, tapping one knuckle against the portable confessional.Wolfwood looks up from contemplating his almost-empty pack of cigarettes with his lips quirked. "Whatcha got?""Uh..." Vash sticks his hands into pockets he's well aware don't contain a single double dollar, then offers the priest a smarmy smile. "Devilish good looks and effortless charisma?"
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	The Going Rate for Absolution

**Author's Note:**

> I just rewatched Trigun with my fiance and, uh... I'm pretty sure I wrote fanfiction for it the first time I watched it, but that was long before AO3 was a thing. So this is all the Trigun fanfic I know for sure exists because of me.
> 
> All I know is that I was a mess over these two back in 2003 and I'm still a mess over them now.

"So... what's the going rate for absolution?" Vash asks, tapping one knuckle against the portable confessional. 

Wolfwood looks up from contemplating his almost-empty pack of cigarettes with his lips quirked. "Whatcha got?"

"Uh..." Vash sticks his hands into pockets he's well aware don't contain a single double dollar, then offers the priest a smarmy smile. "Devilish good looks and effortless charisma?"

"Lord have mercy," Wolfwood mutters, and pulls out the penultimate cigarette. "Y'know what, you've saved my life, least I can do is save your soul. Have at it." He twiddles the cigarette between two fingers, pretty sure he's going to want one after hearing whatever Vash thinks he needs forgiveness for and not wanting that one to be his last one. 

"So... how's this supposed to go?" Vash asks uncertainly, halfway to lowering it over his head.

"Wing it."

"You're not very helpful."

"God knows what you mean, however you manage to get it out." When Wolfwood meets Vash's curious stare, he's annoyed all over again that he doesn't know what to compare that gaze to. There's nothing on Gunsmoke the color of Vash's eyes. "You just talk until you feel unburdened."

"Oh, okay," Vash says, and puts it on. "So, uh... I guess I need forgiveness for lying. I've been... really dishonest. With people I care about."

"In your position, it's understandable," Wolfwood says, fingering the matchbook in his pocket in an attempt to keep himself from immediately lighting the cigarette that had made its way to the corner of his lips. Not many of those left, either.

"No, I know, I don't mean... I mean... I don't mean lies to protect them," Vash says. "I mean lies to protect me."

"You're justified," Wolfwood says. "It's not a sin to save your own skin."

"I don't want to keep telling these lies," Vash says. "But if I stop, it's just going to end in everyone getting hurt."

"Everyone gets hurt anyways," Wolfwood says. "What kind of lies we talking about, here?" If Vash is in a talkative mood, it would be tragic not to take advantage of that fact.

"I pretend I'm okay," Vash says. Wolfwood lights his cigarette and takes a deep drag. "I pretend I don't notice all the opportunities my friends give me to... admit that I'm not okay." Very slowly, Wolfwood exhales. "I... pretend I'm so drunk that I'm asleep to get out of uncomfortable conversations."

"Like you did last night," Wolfwood says with a snort; he'd been right that the conversation had dropped off at an unlikely point. "Are you looking for God's forgiveness or mine?"

"More yours," Vash says, "But I'll take both if I can get them."

"I don't expect total honesty from you, Tongari. You want to pretend you're fine, I can tell you with full confidence, so's everyone else on this planet doing." Wolfwood waits for Vash to lift the portable confessional, until those eyes come into view, the color of something that he knows in his soul should be abundant. "You want to admit you're not fine... more power to you. I sure don't have that kind of courage."

"You've got some kind of courage," Vash says. 

Wolfwood flicks his cigarette and shrugs. "Next time, I won't believe you're asleep."

Vash gives him another smile, this one considerably more genuine, and offers the portable confessional back to him. "Can I still convince you to carry me to bed, though?"

"You didn't _convince_ me last night, I thought you fell asleep on me!"

"You're just so strong..." Vash goes straight into dorky flirt mode, now that his primary mission is accomplished. Next time, Wolfwood won't let him off the hook when he tries to kill a conversation he knows he really needs to be having. Next time, one way or another, Vash is going to have to be more honest, with the one person he thinks can cope with what he might end up revealing.


End file.
